NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Apple Forums › Apple Notebooks › Glossy vs Matte?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Glossy vs Matte?

post #1 of 17
8/9/07 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
I know in terms of "prettiness," glossy wins hands down.

But what about practicality? Things like bright rooms/outside? Which has more of a glare?

I assumed glossy would have more of a glare but I read somewhere else that matte does...

I hated my old XPS and how it was a pain in the ass to read in the sun.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 17
8/9/07 at 7:33pm
DISCLAIMER: This post is not meant to offend
Quote:
Things like bright rooms/outside? Which has more of a glare?
My first response was... This is a serious question? Then I read this...
Quote:
I assumed glossy would have more of a glare but I read somewhere else that matte does...
And realized unfortunately it was. Glossy has MUCH more glare, in fact that is part of its design, to make it shiny(Aka reflective). Does that mean it will always be more difficult to read outside? Well most of the time yes, but it depends largely on the quality of the screens, but in general matte will be easier outside. Seablade
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 17
8/9/07 at 8:15pm
Thread Starter 
Hey, ya never know these days. I didn't know if the newer "glossy" screens found a way to retain the beauty while reducing the glare. Technology is always advancing.

I'm trying to decide between Glossy or Matte for myself, a college student (word processing in class, occasional outdoor use, gaming)
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 17
8/9/07 at 9:30pm
Well.. im outside right now typing this but I'm not in the blazing sun. So far, I'm running at Min brightness (1 setting above off) and I can read everyhting on the site fine. However, I am having trouble reading my friend's IMs cause they use freaky font colors that makes it diffcult to read anywhere.

Edit: I have glossy
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 17
9/6/07 at 3:32am
Glossy!!
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 17
9/6/07 at 4:04am
Most of the newer glossy screens have anti reflective coatings on them which help reduce glare.

One of the big things with glossy screens is that they're like mirrors, but in a way that's good because reflections generally stay confined in one area and will have usually have nice sharp edges and can be worked around. Matte screens, however, when they reflect light they tend to diffuse it across a much larger part of the screen which can be annoying.

But you don't really notice the reflections on a matte screen unless the light is fairly intense, whereas pretty much any light will reflect off a glossy screen.

So it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.

We just got a new HDTV with a glossy screen and it sits directly in front of an extremely large sliding glass door which caused horrible horrible glare on our old SDTV during the day but which really doesn't seem to cause much glare on the new TV at all.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 17
9/8/07 at 4:52am
Have you taken a look at the models in the Apple store?

In my experience, from looking at glossy Macbooks (not Pro) around campus, the glare is not as bad as I expected. However, if you are viewing the screen from an angle to the horizontal, the glare appears to be worse.

In any sunny outdoor setting (even in the shade), ambient sunlight often overpowers the LCD backlight itself, so neither screen finish will help you.

All that being said, I would go with the matte screen. Your friends will thank you when they are over to watch DVDs with you and can actually see the screen
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 17
9/8/07 at 11:40am
I have glossy on my MacBook, and went with matte on the 15" MacBook Pro. I like both displays, but find the matter easier (on my eyes) to work with for hours at a time.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 17
9/9/07 at 8:27am
I have the glossy screen on my MBP (17 inch 2.4MHz high res screen) and it is alot better for glare then the older glossy screens. Its great and i am very happy with it despite my initial concerns
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 17
9/9/07 at 2:59pm
The glossy screens are coated with an anti-reflective coating right from the get-go. We're not talking optical technology from the dark ages here.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 17
9/11/07 at 2:00am
My buddy bought an ultra small Sony laptop with a glossy screen and we took it into our media arts class to show off. One the the classmates misstook the glossyness of the screen to mean it was a glass touch screen. Needless to say his PDA stylus did not do the Sony screen any good.

On a personal note I only chose matte because it doesn't show finger prints very much. And I am paranoid about my laptop. Not even my girlfriend can touch my macbook pro and that says alot. So for hardly anyone touching my laptops glossy seems to attract fingers like honey
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 17
9/11/07 at 2:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by meekus View Post
The glossy screens are coated with an anti-reflective coating right from the get-go. We're not talking optical technology from the dark ages here.

The only thing I remember about the dark ages is they used things called floppy disks.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 17
9/11/07 at 7:03am
Floppy Disks? Modern buggers, try cassette tapes or punch cards

Seablade
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 17
9/11/07 at 2:12pm
Screw that. Clay tablets and a chisel in my apartment!
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 17
9/11/07 at 4:29pm
Stone knives and bearskins.

God, for a bunch of geeks that one should've popped out immediately!
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 17
9/12/07 at 4:57pm
I hear the newest mbp matte displays are really crisp in comparison to former models.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 17
9/12/07 at 5:29pm
They are very nice yes. Very smooth color and levels, wide viewing angles, good contrast, altogether I am quite happy with mine

Seablade
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Apple Notebooks
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Apple Forums › Apple Notebooks › Glossy vs Matte?